Questioning Supplements

Dietary supplements are big business. Three out of four Americans take one or more on a regular basis, and for older Americans the fraction is four out of five. One in three children also take supplements. The estimated number of supplement products increased from 4,000 in 1994 to 50,000-80,000 today. Out of pocket expenditures for herbal and complementary nutritional products are about $50 billion, reports Henry Miller. ¹ Supplements have become a massive industry with plenty of enthusiastic promoters. But for all the research telling us how certain vitamins and nutrients affect our bodies, taking supplements can't always deliver the results we may hope and expect. ²